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Friday, December 21, 2012

When we arrived in our classroom this morning, we could almost feel the magic in the air! Good 'Ol Saint Nick had filled up the stockings we hung in our classroom! The students were glowing as they opened up all of their treats. Santa even left us personalized "Don't Let the Pigeon Fly the Sleigh" books that he made for us based on our class' favorite Mo Willems pigeon book series. Nothing is more fun than watching little ones enjoy the miracle of Christmas...

Friday, November 30, 2012

Samuel knocked our socks off this month when he correctly estimated the exact number of candy apple Milky Ways in our November's estimation jar! Believe it or not, this is already the second time this year he has done this! He has one keen eye for counting candy- maybe a future mathematician? Great job Samuel!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sage is the lucky winner of our October Estimation Jar! She had the most accurate estimate of the number of candy pumpkins in the jar this month. She graciously said that she would be taking her tasty earnings home to share with her family :)

Monday, October 8, 2012

The class was so excited this week when Elizabeth brought in her seashell collection to give us an opportunity to put our 5 senses into action. She even taught us how to listen closely and hear the ocean! What a great Scientist!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

George Washington would be jealous if he saw the hats our class made today! First, we took a trip back in time to learn what all of the words in the Yankee Doodle song meant. We were really surprised to learn that 'macaroni' didn't mean our favorite weeknight dinner- it was actually referring to the fashionable 'macaroni' hairstyle of the 18th century.

﻿After learning about the history of the song, we put on our reader hats and practiced creating mental images, or 'brain pictures', using the author's words as 'paint'. The students worked as the illustrators for the song and drew what they visualized on the construction paper that they used to make their hats. We then sang and danced to the 'doodle' tune- hats and all!

If you would like to have your child teach you our dance moves for the song, visit the 'Going Deeper' tab on our blog, click on the 'Month by Month' link, and find 'September'. Scroll down to 'Social Studies' and you will find the music video we used in class. Don't forget to have your child put on their Yankee Doodle hat for the full effect! ﻿

We have been learning all about America and American symbols! We especially loved learning about the flag and the pledge. Our flag manager helps us recite the pledge every morning by tracking the words with a giant pointer while the rest of us follow along on our own copy of the pledge that we illustrated in our symbols book (that we will be bringing home soon :) ). We learned that we put our hands on our hearts to promise that we will take care of America and the people that live there with us. The students thought of all kinds of ways we can do this- by picking up trash outside, helping our classmates cut their paper at art center if they are struggling, and even by giving our little brothers and sisters hugs when they are feeling bad. The blue square on the flag reminds us of the promise we make when we say the pledge and the 50 stars remind us that, although there are 50 areas to live in the United States, we are all part of one big American family. The red stripes make us think of the brave soldiers that protect our country, and the white stripes help us remember to be loyal Americans, or in other words, take care of each other and the place where we live.

Our class is currently making a list of all the different places where we have seen the flag, and we would love your help with this! If you are out and about and see our flag flying, could you assit your Kindergartner in taking or drawing a picture of it? You can add your picture to the comment section of this post or send it to school with your child to add to the class list.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Congratulations to this month's estimation jar winner, Samuel! Samuel estimated that there were approximately 25 smarties packs in our estimation jar for September. Our class counted the candies today and the grand total came to 21, making Samuel the mathemetician with the closest estimate. He sure is one 'smartie'! The students are excited to record their new estimate for this month's jar- candy pumpkins!

It's hard to believe the first month of school has already went by! It has been a pleasure spending the last few weeks getting to know your Kindergartner, and I'm sure they have already filled you in on how busy they've been learning new things. Thank-you for taking the time to stop by our blog, and I hope that you will find it to be a valuable resource as the year unfolds. This week I will begin to add new features that I hope will help you connect to our classroom and support your child's instruction at home. I am looking forward to the amazing year that we will be sharing together!

Thursday, May 31, 2012

As we wrapped up the schoolyear, our emotions were bittersweet. I am so proud of the students and their accomplishments, but truly did not want to give them up! We spent our last days together working on a special memory book...

...and we also made the video below to highlight all of the smiles we have shared this year. The students picked out the song, pictures, and the template and I think they did an amazing job!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Our Kindergartners worked so hard this year, and so we thought why not reward ourselves by 'blowing off' the afternoon- with bubbles, of course! We have been soaking up every last minute of our time together and this seemed to be the perfect way to enjoy our friends before the summer. The little ones were even more delighted when they realized they could take their bubbles home.

If your child came home smelling like a barber shop last week, it is probably because of all of the 'lathering up' we did in our classroom! As a special end of the year treat, we sprayed globs of shaving cream on the tables and used our fingers to write sight words into the sudsy concoctions. The looks on the students' faces were priceless when they saw me start to spray the cream on their tables! What they didn't know is that the 'messy' activity was simultaneously helping us to clean the furniture! Naturally, we learned that the shaving cream had many other uses than for shaving and writing words, and we quickly discovered all of its other functions and places it could be used :) I'm not sure if they had more fun exploring, or if I had more fun watching...